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K-Pop star Dean is ready to take over the world Picture: deantrbl/Instagram)

If you’ve been hiding under a rock with no wifi recently, you might not recognise K-pop singer Dean – but you should.

Let’s get acquainted: Dean is the singer who, in his home country of Korea, can’t walk down the street without being hounded by thousands of fans who love his blend of K-pop and smooth R&B.

The singer has worked with the likes of Anderson.Paak and, most recently The Internet’s Syd, with whom he collaborated on the dreamy jazz-inspired song Love.

But despite his music rising to critical acclaim since the release of his debut EP 130 Mood: TRBL, the 25-year-old admitted he doesn’t like listening to his old music anymore

‘The EP is good in a way, but I feel like it’s missing something,’ he said in an interview with i-D, before adding: ‘It still means a lot to me, of course. I just don’t listen to my old music much now, but I care about how people interpret my artistic language.’

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Dean, whose real name is Kwon Hyuk (he took inspiration for his stage name from actor James Dean), said that he’s currently working on new material, attempting to mix up his classic R&B sound with ‘old band’ music in an effort to mix up his sound – something that’s been causing the singer a bit of anxiety recently.

Dean mixed K-pop with smooth AF R&B (Picture: deantrbl/Instagram)

‘My new music has been giving me so much stress!’ he said. ‘What I’m trying to do is not be stuck in my own sound. Recently, I’ve been denying the fact that I’m gonna do something similar over and over.’

And it’s no wonder he’s finding the whole process stressful – Dean has a monumental following that has left him unable to remain anonymous in Korea. He said he ‘likes being able to walk around cities I visit’ but that’s unlikely to last long, with fans in cropping up all over the world at an increasingly rapid pace.

But despite this pressure to please everyone, the singer knows that he has to make music that feels true to him in order for it to resonate with his fans.

‘I try to focus on my own feelings, cause I know that there are lots of people out there who feel the same way.

‘As long as I express myself honestly,’ he said, ‘I know that people will respond to it!’

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